Longtime president and Putin ally has silenced media and criminalised dissent as he eyes seventh term

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On Sunday, five names will feature on the ballot in Belarus’s presidential election, but the outcome is a foregone conclusion: Alexander Lukashenko’s 31-year reign is poised to continue in the carefully managed vote, granting the dictator his seventh term in power.

The elections, described by the opposition as a “farce”, come four and a half years after Belarus’s previous presidential vote, which sparked nationwide protests over allegations of vote rigging and was met with brutal repression.